For Elevated Sandwiches, Treat Your Toppings Like A Salad

Have you ever made a sandwich where the lettuce just sits there, not adding much excitement or flavor? It's a missed opportunity. Plain toppings often get lost, even with spreads like your typical mayonnaise and mustard on the bread, leaving the other layers a tad tasteless and the whole sandwich a bit uneven. The usual saltiness from store-bought meats and cheeses doesn't always reach the lackluster greens. But here's a simple fix: Treat your sandwich toppings like a small salad, and dress them. 

Tossing the toppings with a dressing first is a game-changer. This simple step directly coats them with moisture and more taste, and is one of the best ways to assemble your sandwiches for a better bite. Doing this with your sandwich toppings doesn't just wake up their flavor; it also changes the overall mouthfeel of your sandwich. The whole sandwich just feels a bit fuller and more well-rounded. 

A good tip for your sub sandwich is to mix the greens with dressing in a bowl by themselves before you start building the sandwich. This is a key move to get dressing on all the toppings evenly, and is a great way to keep your bread from getting soggy. If you put dressing right on the layers already in the sandwich, too much liquid can seep into the bread, ruining the texture.

After you decide which type of sandwich you're in the mood for, then you can have some fun with the toppings and dressings. An oil, like olive oil, adds a nice richness, and helps carry the taste of added herbs and spices throughout the dish. Something acidic, like red wine vinegar or a squeeze of lemon, adds a bright tanginess that can mix well with Italian seasoning or oregano — use it to dress shredded iceberg or romaine lettuce to make a deliciously layered Italian sub. 

Salt is also a great addition, not only for taste, but to pull water out of your vegetables (especially after you do the necessary step of washing veggies for sandwiches). Black pepper, along with herbs like marjoram, basil, and other spices, give your dressing its own depth and complexity.

BLTs with a slab of delicious burrata or mozzarella get a lot better when you let the tomato slices hang out for a bit in a mix of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Once you let them soak for a short time, you can use the juices from the tomatoes to lightly dress the lettuce before putting it on your sourdough or brioche. Roasted veggie sandwiches are great for this, too. Vegetables like bell peppers and zucchini can be tossed in an herby vinaigrette or even some spicy harissa sauce before you cook them, and then mixed with arugula for an earthy bite. Chicken sandwiches are great with dressed toppings like pickled red onions, green tomatoes, and peppery watercress — or try tossing the crisp lettuce for a grilled chicken sandwich in caesar dressing.